News

A prowler with an illegal handgun has been arrested after being spotted by an alert homeowner who fired two warning shots from his own firearm.

A press release issued this week by the Amador County Sheriff’s Office said Dale Lawrence Schaefer, 59, of Pioneer, was first detained and then arrested Aug. 1 following a 911 call just after 1 a.m.

The call, from a resident in an unincorporated area of Jackson off Highway 49, said a man and a vehicle unknown to her or her husband was outside their residence, and the man was armed with a handgun. The woman said her husband had fired two rounds from his firearm into the air in an effort to scare the man off of their property, but the man did not leave. Sheriff’s deputies, a California Highway Patrol officer and a Jackson Police officer raced to the scene where deputies found Schaefer in his vehicle. A loaded 9mm pistol was located on the front seat.

A preliminary investigation uncovered Schaefer’s status as a convicted felon, and he was arrested and booked into the Amador County Jail on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a loaded and concealed firearm, being under the influence of a controlled substance and prowling.